Timekeeping

[anniexf]

I taught my daughter French knitting with the cotton reel/4 nails contraption, & still have one of the coasters she made! Nowadays the commercial French knitting "dollies" are quite flash (& expensive) and available in several sizes.

[Angela Woodford]

Coasters! Another use!

How ingenious, Ann...

So nobody knocks the little nails into a cotton reel any more, and you buy the thingy? I feel I should know this before I get to be a granny. I neglected to do french knitting with my girls!

[anniexf]

Cotton reels all seem to be made from plastic now, & I suspect they might split or chip if you tried to bang nails in, or the nails would immediately fall out, having no grip. Progress!

[J.R.]

I remember, many years ago, my Grand-Dad making 'tanks' for me out of an old wooden cotton-reel, a pencil, a rubber band and a match stick.

Simple pleasures !!

[Kim2s70-77]

JR - we made those too! We used to take a slice of a candle at the end of the reel, to prevent friction and we would notch the edges of the reel to give them good traction. I had forgotten all about those!

[Katharine]

If you are interested in French Knitting, have a look at this site. http://www.ingrid-de-vane.co.uk/ My sister sent me one of the kits for my birthday, the necklaces are very quick to make up.

[J.R.]

JR - we made those too! We used to take a slice of a candle at the end of the reel, to prevent friction and we would notch the edges of the reel to give them good traction. I had forgotten all about those!

YES ! Candle wax ! I'd forgotton that !

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

Being a Grandad of some 36 years --- I also made cotton-reel "Tanks" ----- for the Girls !

(My first Grandchild, ZOE was the first surviving Female to be born in the Family for some 150 years --- and we had to import Swiss Genes !!! and got TWO !)

So we were a bit at a loss, at making Doll's Houses !!

Zoe, whose initials spell her name -- Zoe Olivia Evans -- now makes her own Houses --- being a Partner in a Firm of Architects.

[fra828]

Going back to the original subject, does anyone remember cold winter mornings at school? The bell rang at 7am for us to get up and it felt like the middle if the night , and walking to and coming out of breakfast in the dark was disorientating. These were the years when they experimented with BST all year round and I hope they never pass this bill. We need light to wake up in the mornings. Who wants light evenings when it's cold anyway?

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

fra828 ---
TBA and I live a short distance from Bournemouth ----- (Corfe Mullen) and I have no difficulty waking up in the morning -- nor even in the middle of the night
This not due to BST or the lack of it -------- it is called OLD AGE

[fra828]

Did anyone see the article in the paper about the retired Somerset couple who don't put their clocks back in October? They say that being one hour ahead of UK time half the year keeps them more alert and previous winter health problems are significantly reduced. They put this down to the lighter evenings. However, when it comes at fitting in with appointments and social plans etc, it all gets very confusing!

[anniexf]

I had to get up at sparrowf**t in December for a very early appointment, nil by mouth too - it was sheer misery with no tea or bix, and snow! I doubt if changing our clocks would have made the slightest difference to my state of mind that morning.